I thought i would share a recent deal we are completing right now. We short saled a property that needed a quick cosmetic update from 180k to 130k.. We tried to sell it AS-IS for 155k (a steal for this particular house,, however it wasnt selling) we were confused! there were several showings and no takers.  An agent actually said, "that place is a disaster, it needs a ton of work"  We responded with, "are you serious? it needs 5 grand" - she disagreed. A few days later we made a very wise decision.  We purchased it ourselves from the bank for 130k.  We started our rehab and 7 days later it was finished, and looked great! the final cost of rehab was about 5,200 dollars.  (turns out we were right).  Believe it or not within 15 days we have the property under contract for 178,000.   We tried to give someone a good deal and sell them an easy fixer upper with a good equity situation but thankfully nobody purchased it.  It was one of our smartest decisions to do the rehab ourselves and it is earning us an extra 20 grand.  All for a week of long work days.

Best of luck,

Brian